Aura
An emanation said to surround human beings, chiefly encircling the head, and supposed to proceed from the nervous system. It is described as a cloud of light suffused with various colours. This is seen clairvoyantly, being imperceptible to the physical sight.
Some authorities trace the existence of the aura in such scriptural instances as the bright light shining about Moses, which the children of Israel were unable to look upon, when he descended from the mountain bearing the stone tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments; in the exceedingly brilliant light which shone round about St. Paul's vision at the time of his conversion; and in the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, when his raiment shone so brightly that no fuller on earth could whiten it. Many of the mediæval saints were said to be surrounded with a cloud of light. Of St. John of the Cross it is told that when at the altar or kneeling in prayer, a certain brightness darted from his face; St. Philip Neri was constantly seen enveloped in light; St. Charles Borromeo was similarly illuminated. This is said to be due to the fact that when a person is engaged in lofty thought and spiritual aspiration, the auric colours become for the time being, more luminous and translucent, therefore more easily discernible. In Christian art, round the heads of saints and the sacred characters, is to be found portrayed the halo or nimbus which is supposed to represent the aura; sometimes the luminous cloud is shown around the whole of the body as well as the head, when it is called aureola. It is also thought that the colours of the body and clothing in mediæval paintings and stained glass are intended to represent the auric colours of the person portrayed. The crowns and distinctive head-dresses worn by the kings and priests of antiquity, are said to be symbolic of the aura. In many of the sacred books of the East, representations of the great teachers and holy men are given with the light extending round the whole of the body. Instances of this may be found in the temple caves of India and Ceylon, in the Japanese Buddhistic books, also in Egypt, Greece, Mexico and Peru. In occult literature the tradition of the aura is an old one, Paracelsus, in the 16th century, making mention of it in the following terms: "The vital force is not enclosed in man, but radiates round him like a luminous sphere, and it may be made to act at a distance. In these semi-natural rays the imagination of man may produce healthy or morbid effects. It may poison the essence of life and cause diseases, or it may purify it after it has been made impure, and restore the health." Again:
Our thoughts are simply magnetic emanations, which, in escaping from our brains, penetrate into kindred heads and carry thither, with a reflection of our life, the mirage of our secrets." A modern theosophical description is as follows: "The aura is a highly complicated and entangled manifestation, consisting of many influences operating within the same area. Some of the elements composing the aura are projected from the body, others from the astral principles, and others again from the more spiritual principles connected with the "Higher Self," or permanent Ego; and the various auras are not lying one around the other, but are all blended together and occupy the same place. Guided by occult training. the clairvoyant faculty may make a complete analysis of the various elements in the aura, and can estimate the delicate tints of which it is composed-though all blended together as if each were seen separately." دو 66
Classified more exactly, the divisions of the aura are stated to be: I, the health aura; 2, the vital aura; 3, the "Karmic" aura, that of the animal soul in man; 4, the aura of character; 5, the aura of the spiritual nature. The "health aura is thus described : "It is almost colourless, but becomes perceptible by reason of possessing a curious system of radial striation, that is to say, it is composed of an enormous number of straight lines, radiating evenly in all directions from the body." The second, or "vital" aura, is said to be to a certain extent under the control of the will, when it circulates within the "linga charira" or astral body, of a delicate rosy tint, which it loses, becoming bluish as it radiates outward." The third aura is "the field of manifestation, or the mirror in which every feeling, every desire is reflected." Of this aura the colours constantly change, as seen by the clairvoyant vision. "An outburst of anger will charge the whole aura with deep red flashes on a dark ground, while sudden terror will, in a moment, change everything to a ghastly grey." The fourth aura is that of the permanent character, and is said to contain the record of the past earth-life of the personality. The fifth aura is not often seen even by clairvoyants, but it is described by those who have seen it, only in the cases where the spiritual nature is the most powerful factor, as outshining all the rest of the auras with startling brilliancy." The auric colours, it is declared, cannot be adequately described in terms of the ordinary colours discernible to the physical vision, being very much brighter, and of more varied hues and shades. The symbolic meaning of these is roughly of the following order: Rose, pure affection; brilliant red, anger and force; dirty red, passion and sensuality; yellow, of the purest lemon 66 Auspices colour, the highest type of intellectual activity; orange, intellect used for selfish ends, pride and ambition; brown, avarice. Green is a colour of varied significance; its root meaning is the placing of one's self in the position of another. In its lower aspects it represents deceit and jealousy; higher up in the emotional gamut, it signifies adaptability, and at its very highest, when it tells on the colour of foliage, sympathy, the very essence of thinking for other people. In some shades green stands for the lower intellectual and critical faculties, merging into yellow. Blue indicates religious feeling and devotion, its various shades being said to correspond to different degrees of devotion, rising from fetishism to the loftiest religious idealism. Purple represents psychic faculty, spirituality, regality, spiritual power arising from knowledge, and occult pre-eminence.
Auspices, or College of Diviners : (See Divination).